In French patent application No. 95/10662 of Sep. 12, 1995, the Applicant describes a polymer current limiter comprising at least one stack of a plurality of stages of linear resistance elements and of polymer variable resistance elements, wherein each stage is constituted by a linear resistance in the form of a disk around which there are connected in parallel pellet-form polymer elements, the transverse axes of said pellets being perpendicular to the axis of the stack.
The polymer elements are small in size and above all small in thickness, and they possess metal tabs soldered to each face thereof with the ends thereof being soldered to a current collector.
That device, which requires a large number of solder joints or electrical connections, is expensive and it is not sufficiently robust.
Also, each element has its own relatively high capacitance. This gives rise to a large amount of capacitance per stage, which means that it is possible to unbalance the distribution of voltage between stages.